Thursday, May 07, 2009

Business

Scottish and Caribbean business support agencies form international partnership of expertise.

In a groundbreaking new project, business experts from Scotland and the Caribbean are teaming up to support and advise the burgeoning business community in St Vincent the Grenadines (SVG).

One of Scotlandʼs largest business support organisations, the GO Group, is taking over 25 years experience to SVG in order to help the business experts at the islandʼs Centre of Enterprise Development (CED) to build on their knowledge and become accredited business advisors.

A recent change in EU policy has meant that the Caribbean no longer receives preferential treatment for the distribution of bananas, which had previously dominated the economy of the small island nation. The SVG Government is now taking steps to diversify the economy and encourage entrepreneurship, meaning that business support is vitally important to the islandʼs future.

Lesley Meechan is the director of Learning and Development at the GO Group. She has been working with the staff at the CED for several months to help them achieve an accreditation from the Institute of Leadership and Management. She said:

“The CED is a non-proﬁt organisation that was established by the Government of SVG to help the islandʼs business community grow and ﬂourish. The staff at the centre are fantastic at their jobs. They know the local economy inside-out and are already making an extremely positive impact in SVG. They have been a pleasure to work with.”

“This will be the ﬁrst time that an ILM Level 5 Business Support award has been granted outside the UK. It will give the staff at the CED the framework to raise the standards of business advice and continue to provide budding entrepreneurs in SVG and across the rest of the Caribbean with expert advice for years to come.”